


Is that you, naked in the bathtub?

by S_Nebulosa



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Childhood Memories, F/F, Fluff, or lack thereof
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:35:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22053394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/S_Nebulosa/pseuds/S_Nebulosa
Summary: Following Lillian's lifelong prison sentence, Lena and Kara have clean out Luthor manor to prepare it for sale. When cleaning out the attic, they stumble upon some old photo albums.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 8
Kudos: 319





	Is that you, naked in the bathtub?

**Author's Note:**

> For Sam, Zoe, avatarwolfspirit and two sweet anons.
> 
> My last work of the year and of the decade. Enjoy! :P

The room is dirty, dark with dust particles floating around which are only emphasised by the small light from the bare lamp hanging from the ceiling. Nothing in the Luthor manor is dirty, except the attic. Apparently. 

Lena has never been in this room and she doesn’t know what to expect. The attic was off-limits to anyone but the staff. Lena now understands why. It’s an accident waiting to happen. Rotten floorboards, nails sticking out of the wall, a dangerous and wobbly ladder leading up to it. 

There are boxes everywhere, stacked floor to ceiling. Some labelled, most not. 

The room is very un-Luthor. Or maybe that just makes it more Luthor. The unorganised chaos behind the well-manufactured facade that is the Luthor life. And their home. 

As Lena is still taking in the mess around her, Kara follows up the ladder after her. 

With her head just emerging, Kara breathes out a, “Wow.” 

“There is so much shit, here. I don’t think we’ll be able to finish sorting through it today,” Lena notes, leaning over some stacked boxes to see how many more are behind them. A lot. 

Kara looks around and finishes climbing the stairs.

“Yeah, I think you’re right,” Kara agrees. “But we can at least make a start.”

“Mhm,” Lena hums and turns to a pile of unlabelled boxes. 

Behind her, Kara lifts a heavy box off of some old furniture and puts it in an empty spot so she has room to sort through it. 

Lena sighs heavily. She had hoped they would be done organising everything today. The Luthor’s have so much stuff and Lena does not really intend to keep any of it. She doesn’t need the reminder of the life she left behind. And nothing is her taste anyway. They just have to sort through all the furniture and knickknacks and other items so they can figure out what to donate and what to throw away.

They work in relative silence for a while, occasionally showing each other something they found to ask what they should do with it or just poke fun at it together. Kara finds the ugliest candle holder Lena has ever seen. Lena, in turn, finds a collection of old family paintings with the most freaky depictions on them. A child looking gleefully murderous. A decapitation scene. Some satanic ritual being performed by people in white robes. Every single one gives Lena shivers and she quickly throws them in a box and closes it. 

“I think I found old family pictures,” Kara says as she holds up a thick book with childhood pictures of Lex in it. 

Lena looks up and studies the photographs. 

“You wouldn’t say he would turn into a mass murderer when you see his baby face, would you?” 

Kara doesn’t answer but gives Lena’s hand a little squeeze as she takes back the book. She’s used to this by now and knows she will only make it worse by engaging. 

With her hands empty again, Lena turns back to her box and starts looking through it again. Most is junk but there are some things that are salvageable and could be donated to goodwill. 

“Eeeeeeek!” Kara suddenly yells, startling Lena and making her drop the small statue she was holding. It misses her toes by a hair. 

Lena turns around to check if Kara’s okay — by the way she screamed, Lena half expects she has found a dead body — only to find Kara staring adoringly at a picture in another photo album. 

“Did you have to give me a heart attack over that?” Lena asks as she tries to sneak a look over Kara’s shoulder. 

“Yes! Lena, is that you-” Kara points at a young child with long brown hair in wet strands down her shoulders- “Naked in the bathtub?”

“No, Lillian didn’t take pictures of me. We only had our pictures taken at some of the balls and dinners Lex and I were forced to attend. And at school on picture day.”

“Looks like you. She has your smile.” Kara presses the picture a little closer to Lena’s face. 

Lena glares at it for a little while, trying to take in the surroundings and the little girl’s face and anything noticeable about her body. Like the small birth mark on her neck at the exact same spot as Lena has one. 

She shakes her head. 

Lillian would never take bathtub pictures of her. If she ever were to own a camera — which she didn’t, as far as Lena knows — she’d have used it solely for pictures of Lex. Not of her. Lillian never cared enough for her to record her childhood in photographs. The only reason there are even pictures from her as a child is because she had to be in the family photos to portray how well and happy and complete their nuclear family was. 

Lena looks at the girl a little better. She seems to be about five or six years old, a small gap in her front teeth where she has lost one. 

The little girl has green eyes. 

She has a dimple in her right cheek but not her left. 

There are multiple small birthmarks on her skin, all in places Lena has ones too. Except Lena has more. (She is acutely aware people can gain those birthmarks during their life. She has spotted several new ones appear on herself these last few years.)

Every piece of evidence points in the direction of this being Lena. This little girl in a tub full of foam with a bright smile on her face and a foam-covered rubber duck in her hand. 

“Maybe it is me.” 

“You look so cute.” 

“I don’t remember ever getting a bubble bath. Or owning a rubber duck.”

“We should take this album home and look through the rest.” 

“I can’t believe I had a rubber duck.” 

Kara takes away the photo album and quickly browses through it, finding more pictures of the same little girl. She closes it and decides home is a better place to look at them than here in this dusty attic. 

“Lena?”

“Lillian took pictures of me when I was little. Or, maybe not Lillian but someone did.” 

“Lena, I think we should go home. It’s getting late.” 

“Mhmm.” Lena doesn’t really hear what Kara is saying. She is still baffled by the fact that a photo of her exists where she isn’t wearing an uncomfortable but pretty dressed and forced to stand up straight in front of Lionel with his hand on her shoulder posing for the camera. 

“Lena?” Kara asks again, gently rubbing her hand over Lena’s upper arm in an attempt to bring her back. 

“Yes? Sorry, I was a little… lost in thought.” Lena shakes her head minutely, as if to shake off the daydream of having a normal childhood. 

“That’s okay. I said I think we should go home. I’m getting hungry and I want to curl up on the couch and cuddle.”

“You’re always hungry,” Lena says with a chuckle but she’s quick to agree with Kara on going home. They went through a decent amount of boxes today and the damp and dust of the attic are starting to make Lena’s head woozy. Or maybe that is because she just found out she has childhood pictures where she got to be herself. 

Either way, going home and cuddling with Kara sounds like a great idea. And she has to admit, she’s also getting a little hungry herself. 

**Author's Note:**

> Celebrate the new year with me on my [tumblr](https://s-nebul0sa.tumblr.com)


End file.
